City Council - Rules & Government Relations Committee

CITY OF EASTHAMPTON OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL Easthampton Municipal Building 50 Payson Ave., Ste. 100 Easthampton, Massachusetts 01027-2260 Telephone #: (413) 529-1400, ext. 460 Fax #: (413) 529-1417 MINUTES RULES AND GOVERNMENT RELATIONS Meeting 03/2/23 Attendees: R&GR Members: Councilor Dan Rist, Chair Councilor Koni Denham, Clerk President Homar Gomez Remote Attendance: Councilor James Kwiecinski, Other Attendees: Councilor Peake Meeting Called to Order at 5:30 pm. The meeting was video recorded. Minutes approved Kwiecinski moved, Denham 2nd. Vote unanimous (3-0) 1. Old Business A. Biodiversity Environment and Ecological Sustainability. Overview of resolution process. Provided idea to start committee. Councilor Zaret put together the ordinance. Changed voting membership from 9 to 7. No mandatory staff membership. Lots of interest to serve on the committee. Help with pollination, energy, advisory council for city council and Mayor. B. Councilor Denham – changes are in line with what has been discussed. Is this the right timing given the Climate Action Plan? Plan can serve as a guidepost for the committee. C. Councilor Kwiecinski – Nice dovetail to Climate Action Plan. Good changes. Only one city councilor. Requested review of rationale for just one. D. Chair Rist – Councilors have a lot on their plate. One councilor is enough for the committee. With reduction of membership only necessitates one councilor. E. Councilor Kwiecinski – Possible for more than one councilor to be passionate about this issue. F. Chair Rist – Councilors can always participate without being members. No authority, only advisory. Similar to EDIC. G. Councilor Kwiecinski – At least one, no more than two members gives flexibility. H. Chair Rist – If we add another councilor then we’d have to drop someone else. Wants more citizen participation. I. Concislor Kwiecinski – Concerned not to end the Energy Advisory Committee. Wasn’t clear that that was a final decision. J. Chair Rist – We will not remove the Energy Advisory Committee. K. Councilor Denham – Moved to send BEES ordinance to full council. Councilor Kwiecinski 2nd. Unanimous 3-0. B. Charter Changes a. Overview Mayor Vacancy. Section 3-1(a). Council President as the Interim Mayor shouldn’t have to quit their job if they aren’t in it for more than 120. Interim Mayor can be nominated if the Council President can’t assume responsibilities. b. Councilor Peake – Similar situation in Gardner, MA. Interim Mayor assumed role but did not want to give up full job. c. Chair Rist – Suggestion of 120 days instead of 90 days. City Council President will not lose their President position on Council. Wouldn’t be able to vote unless there was a tie. It’s a lot to ask to give up their elected position. It’s a lot to ask someone who ran to serve and then not be able to serve because they assumed this interim role. d. Councilor Kwiecinski – Important if the role is a short term. You run to serve, not serve. e. Chair Rist – Is 120 days too long. f. Councilor Peake – It might be too long, but understands the rationale. g. Chair Rist – Process includes filing papers with 33 days of the vacancy. h. Councilor Peake – That is a month and a half for an election, which seems intense. i. Councilor Kwiecinski – I would keep it 120. Need time to organize. Allows for an orderly process. Too rushed and not enough time for residents to participate. j. Councilor Peake – Ask City Clerk. Take time for people to pull a campaign together. If vacancy was expected then I don’t think it would be a problem. k. Chair Rist – Still have to submit papers within 33 days. It is still a month and enough time. l. President Gomez – Won’t have a full-time mayor for 120 days. Long time for there not to have someone in that position. m. Councilor Peake – Odd balance – rushed elections are bad and interim governments are bad. n. Chair Rist – With 90 days a candidate would still have enough time to put together a campaign. If someone is in there for longer than 90 days then there is a part-time mayor. Wants them to be compensated. o. Councilor Kwiecinski – The council is electing someone who is saying they can do the job, and there is agreement. If illness or death, there should be compassion for the community to mourn or grieve. p. Chiar Rist – Seven months – If the Mayor vacated in April, the City Council President is interim Mayor for 7 months. We don’t want too many elections because they are expensive. q. Councilor Peake – There needs to be a cutoff at some point. r. Chair Rist – Is 7 months too long? If it is 7 months, the Council President would have to vacate their position on council. s. Councilor Peake - Hypothetically, would be interim Mayor for 7 months, but not running for Mayor. I could run for Council again. t. Chair Rist – The Council would have to nominate someone to fill the vacant position on council. u. Councilor Peake – When I run for that council position again, I may have to run against that position. v. Chair Rist – I made it, 7 months, as long as possible, so we wouldn’t have to have multiple elections. If the Mayor left in March, we’d have to have it in 120 days even though there is another election in November. I don’t know how to solve this problem. w. Councilor Peake – It’s a trade-off between two bad things. You don’t want someone who wasn’t elected to that position, and you don’t want two elections in a year. You’re going to deal with one, so it is a trade-off. x. Chair Rist – Speak with Barbara about this. y. Councilor Kwiecinski – What is the current situation? z. Chair Rist – Currently, it is 90 days, but it is for two years. The Attorney told me that the Council President wouldn’t have to resign and would be the Interim Mayor for that 90 day period. There is no cut off currently, which is why we need to change this. aa. Councilor Denham – We shouldn’t be callous and feel as though we need to move someone in quickly. I don’t have a problem with the duration because we are democratically elected the Council President. We should make space for people to express whatever emotions they may have if the mayor vacated for whatever reason. Too much transition also causes stress. bb. Chair Rist – Agreed. cc. Councilor Peake – Arbitrary – Whatever it is 90 or 120 double the amount and that’s how long the 7 month window is. You shouldn’t have an election if the period between the vacancy and the election is long than the period between the special election than the sanctioned election. You don’t want to have a 90 day election, 30 days before the regular election. But if you had a situation where it was 180 days before and you 120 days. It is silly but not the same amount of silly. What is the rationale for choosing these numbers? Appreciation of time to collect ourselves, but there are a lot of decisions that still have to be made. Might get lucky with someone who has good administrative skills, but also might not. dd. Chair Rist – Mayor role is a part time role for someone who is a fulltime employee. The problem is that we are asking staff to do more. Why should we ask people to take a leave of absence. ee. Chair Rist – I think the latter is more likely. ff. Councilor Peake – Might have a council who are all working full time, who are unable to take an extended leave of absence. gg. Chair Rist – Anyone of us might work our regular job and then come in after hours and work here. What the city loses – it’s part-time for someone who has a full-time job to be mayor – but you sign the purchases orders and you talk to people. The top people in city hall would keep an eye on things. The problem with that is that we are asking the staff to take on that labor. Things would have to be worked out. It has to be dealt with because why should we ask you to risk your job. hh. Councilor Peake – If that happened. I would have to take an unpaid leave of absence. ii. Chair Rist – The person should be compensated appropriately. In the case of a leave of absence, you wouldn’t be paid by your job, but you would be paid for being the Mayor. They wouldn’t be able to be paid for both positions. jj. Councilor Peake - Should there be something about compensation being prorated if someone is doing half-time? kk. Chair Rist – Prorated isn’t possible. It’s the responsibility that you paid for, not how long it takes. There is no law that says you have to put in 40 hours. You sign papers and make appropriations. 7 months is appropriate. Councilor President is interim Mayor for the last two months of term if position is vacated. Mayor is sworn in that week of the election, and in case of special election. ll. Councilor Peake – Council President or interim Mayor, if that person takes that role and then runs in the special election and the council becomes vacated. mm. Chair Rist – Council will go back to appointing someone to fill the vacated role. nn. Councilor Peake – If someone wants to run for Mayor in the special election, do they have to vacate their council position? oo. Chair Rist – If you’re running in a special election. They don’t have to give up their seat. What if 7 councilors run? It’s the same in other statewide/national elections. pp. Councilor Kwiecinski – 3-9(a). If they are unable to serve how is this defined? Is it unable or unwilling. qq. Chair Rist – It is unable because I can’t do it. rr. Councilor Kwiecinski – Unable or chooses not to serve? ss. Councilor Peake – Does this open up any controversy for someone who wants to serve, but isn’t going to put in the time the council feels necessary? What does able mean in this situation? Does the City Council President have the sole authority to determine whether or not they are able to serve? tt. Chair Rist – It’s up to the person involved. If they said they weren’t able to serve. uu. Councilor Peake – We need to determine why the president is unable to serve. There is no language that determines who decides who can run. “In the event that the Council President determines that they are unable to serve.” We need to determine the process for why this person is unable to serve. Why if a councilor comes in and says someone else is unable to serve because of a conflict of interest or some other reason. vv. Chair Rist – As soon as the Mayor vacates the position, the Council President is automatically the Mayor unless they tell the council they can’t do it. The Council couldn’t say, well we don’t want this person to be Mayor. ww. Councilor Peake – Currently there is no process by which the Councilor President is deemed or not deemed to serve. If you add, “unless the Council President has determined that they are unable to serve,” you will circumvent that. Otherwise, we leave the door open for a controversy. xx. Chair Rist - Added City Council President is (determines they are). yy. Councilor Kwiecinski – Addition solves my concerns with unable. Willing to make a motion. zz. Chair Rist – I don’t think we are ready for a motion. Do we need to vote on every change or do we need consensus? Have consensus and then agree to vote on it. aaa. Chair Rist – Section on the Council President/Interim Mayor shall only vote on matter when there is a tie vote. Same as it is now for council and committees because the Interim Mayor is still on the City Council, which is the same as the Mayor sits on the School Board. bbb. Councilor Kwiecinski – I think the Interim Mayor should relinquish the Council President position while serving as the acting Mayor. ccc. Chair Rist – I don’t think that was fair to the acting Mayor. ddd. Councilor Kwiecinski – They could return to that position. Not sure about serving in both roles simulatenously. eee. Councilor Peake – I agree. Given they are only supposed to be voting on tie voting issues, perhaps for that period the Vice President should serve as acting acting Council President. The Interim Mayor will be making a lot of decisions and shouldn’t be making decision while also serving as the Council President. fff. Chair Rist – Adding, “The Vice President of the Council shall be President during this period.” ggg. Councilor Peake – “Shall serve as acting President during this period.” hhh. President Gomez – Conflict will be that people in City Hall respond to the Council, but if the Council President is the Interim Mayor, they will only respond to one person. iii. Chair Rist – They go back to serving as President, if they are not running for Mayor. Removal from Council President could happen at any time. jjj. Councilor Kwiecinski – The presumption is that they return to the Council President position and is subject to the vote of the full council. kkk. Councilor Peake – If someone has an issue they can bring up a vote at any time. Centering power with one person. If you have an acting Mayor who is not supposed to be taking a lot of votes unless it is tie breaking vote. There are a lot of decisions that a Council President needs to make in any given week. A lot of time is spent in this role. We have a vice president for reason. lll. Chair Rist – What about during Mayor Speak time during the council meeting. The Interim Mayor/Council President would speak from where you are sitting. All of these are what if scenarios. If it’s not in the Charter, then the City Attorney gets to decide. Consensus on 120 days. Election parameters there is consensus. We are ok with seven months. mmm. Councilor Kwiecinski – When do we start counting the days for the special election and how many days remaining to the regular election? The 120 days should not be less than the period of service. nnn. Councilor Peake – 240 days, which is about 8 months. 90 days is 6 months. None of these decisions are perfect. ooo. Chair Rist – This will all have to go to the City Attorney ppp. Chair Rist –If the current mayor leaves office after election, the new mayor-elect would be sworn in immediately. qqq. Councilor Peake – There is no reason for the new Mayor to not take office right away. rrr. Councilor Kwiecinski – Provide language to cover if the new elected mayor if they can’t take over immediately. What if the Mayor-elect says no? What if the current Mayor up and leaves and the Mayor-elect wasn’t prepared for that unexpected vacancy. sss.Chair Rist – They don’t have a choice. ttt. Councilor Peake – Mayors can take vacations, but that’s your authority now. uuu. Chair Rist – I don’t think that an unelected Mayor should be Mayor when we have an elected Mayor. vvv. Councilor Kwiecinski – What if they have a job? www. Councilor Peake – The Mayor is the authority. If they decide to not step in during that time. Maybe they will have the Council President will take on those responsibilities until they are able to assume those responsibilities, but they are the authority.  xxx. Chair Rist – The authority of the acting Mayor in those cases does not include all of the executive authority. Invite Barbara to the next meeting. 6:22 pm - Motion to adjourn – Councilor Denham, moved Councilor Kwiecinski – 2nd. Vote unanimous (3-0) Next meeting: March 9, 5;30 pm.